The present invention relates to a wear detector for a vehicle braking member, in particular a vehicle brake pad, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
To detect the wear of a braking member comprising a block of friction material, wear threshold detectors are used, which only generate a warning signal when the block of friction material reaches a wear threshold at which the braking member must be replaced.
As opposed to a limit wear condition, however, recent demand is for determining wear of the block of friction material as continuously as possible throughout the working life of the braking member, so as to closely monitor the brake pads on the vehicle at all times.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wear detector for a vehicle braking member, designed to detect wear of the braking member continuously, and which, at the same time, is cheap and easy to produce and provides for a high degree of reliability and efficiency.
According to the present invention, there is provided a wear detector for a vehicle braking member comprising a block of friction material cooperating in sliding manner with a respective metal body; the detector comprising connecting means for connection to said braking member, and detecting means for detecting wear of said block of friction material; characterized in that said detecting means comprise a resistive element consumed simultaneously with said block of friction material and in turn comprising a first electric terminal set, in use, to a reference potential, and a single second electric terminal cooperating in sliding manner with said metal body so as to be set to the same potential as the metal body.
The present invention also relates to a vehicle braking member.
According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle braking member comprising a block of friction material cooperating in sliding manner with a respective metal body, and a detector comprising detecting means for detecting wear of said block of friction material; characterized in that said detecting means comprise a resistive element consumed simultaneously with said block of friction material and in turn comprising a first electric terminal set, in use, to a reference potential, and a single second electric terminal cooperating in sliding manner with said metal body so as to be set to the same potential as the metal body.